There have been far too many heartbreaking stories about women denied abortions this year. ONE is too many, and Savita Halappanivar’s death easily stands alone as a reason never to block a woman’s access to the healthcare she wants and needs.
The story of Beatriz* in El Salvador brings more sad news: after being denied an abortion Beatriz knew she wanted, her baby has died. The newborn girl had no brain and various other health problems, resulting in her death only five hours after Beatriz’s C-section.
Beatriz has lupus and kidney failure. Read More

Today in awkward slut-shamey advice, Beijing officials are telling women to shield themselves with newspapers in order to avoid sexual harassment.
The cops gave out this hot tip now because of China’s rising summer temperatures – they know that logically, people will be wearing fewer layers and shorter clothes to beat the heat. And police brains often seem to think that shorter clothes = more harassment = under a woman’s control, so lo and behold; it’s yet another case of body-policing police. Read More

As the centenary of Emily Davison's death approaches, we're reminded of how far we've come over the years, but also of the tough road that still lies ahead for women's rights. Davison was an incredibly prodigious activist in both life and death.
She fought arduously for women’s suffrage in Britain, leading her to be arrested nine times and force-fed a whopping 49 times. Her most infamous stunt involved stepping in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom Derby, which injured her to the point of dying four days later, on June 8th of 1913. Read More

Less than 10% of Wikipedia's editors are women.
Bishakha Datta serves on the board of the Wikimedia Foundation and spoke about this today in Israel. I occasionally contribute to Wikipedia so was curious to hear why it is so male dominated. The Foundation doesn't actually know, but it has conducted research and come up with possible explanations:
“Women lack a fundamental sense of self confidence when it comes to producing knowledge,” Datta explained. “Women look at themselves as silent receivers of knowledge. Read More

This isn’t the first time we've written about Anita Sarkeesian, of Feminist Frequency and Tropes vs. Women in Video Games. And we have a feeling that it won’t be our last. She has some amazing stuff in the works and it's guaranteed to ruffle internet feathers. (Because of the overwhelmingly negative reaction to her videos and the incredible voice of her supporters, she's already become an expert feather rustler. Now anything she does automatically becomes a web war because of this intense polarization. Read More